Unified IT operations management is a well-defined process aimed at helping IT admins get the most out of their IT infrastructure. Some of the key components of the IT operations management process are:
While each process of IT operations management has separate tools available in the market that can be used to ensure their efficient implementation, there is a growing need among IT admins to implement a unified network management approach to IT operations, primarily due to the following challenges an IT admin faces while using separate tools for each of these processes.
IT operations management is not a single process. It is a combination of multiple processes. This means, in order to implement end-to-end IT infrastructure management, an IT admin has to constantly switch between the various tools used for each of these processes.
While this process provides the IT admin the required perspective into the functioning of the IT infrastructure, it prevents them from seeing the larger picture. It also requires extra effort and time, and occasionally results in IT admins missing out on key updates on one tool while focusing on the other.
When an update is performed in a device, the IT admin has to ensure that this update is reflected across multiple IT operation management tools. This process raises two important challenges:
The visibility admins gain when using different IT operations management tools is moderate at best. Gathering the data and insights provided by various IT operations management tools to gain a deeper visibility into the overall efficiency of the IT infrastructure is a tedious and challenging process.
The primary goal of an IT operations management process is to identify faults so that the IT admins can fix them before they cause business losses. This is done primarily by triggering alerts and notifications whenever something goes wrong.
The problem with having multiple tools for various IT operations management processes is that each of these tools has its own notification structure and technology.
This leads to:
Not managing your notification profiles leads to ineffective fault management. With different tools having different notification profiles, the IT admin is tasked with the challenge of correlating the notifications from various tools, finding the impacted devices, going back to the necessary tools, and carrying out the required fault management operations.
Example: Assume a server goes down and it has to be brought back up online by restoring the backup. For this, the admin needs to implement a configuration and restore the servers directly.
Normally, the IT admin gets a "server down" notification from the network management tool, goes to the configuration management tool, and pushes the backup server configuration details to revert the server settings. After all this, the server finally gets restored.
One important aspect of working with the various tools in implementing the IT operations management process is managing the licenses of the various tools involved.
The problem with having multiple tools for IT operations management is that:
The goal of a carefully crafted IT operations management strategy is to combine key insights from the individual processes (network monitoring, application monitoring, firewall analysis, bandwidth management, etc.) to arrive at a holistic view of the IT infrastructure performance. This will help IT admins isolate and troubleshoot faults and get the most out of every penny invested in their IT infrastructure.
To accomplish this, integration is a key aspect. Integration in itself can be classified into two sections:
When using multiple tools for IT operations management, each tool might have its own set of intra/external integrations. The concept of intra-integration between various processes gets thrown out of the window in most cases, except when multiple tools are purchased from the same vendor.
Having different external integrations is also problematic. For example, the network management and configuration management tool might be integrated to two different ITSM tools. This makes fault management difficult and results in service tickets being split accordingly, causing chaos for the support engineers. It also requires organizations to invest in extra tools to help advanced fault management ops.
OpManager Plus is a unified IT operations management solution that brings all your operations management under a single roof.
OpManager Plus, a holistic IT operations management tool, brings all IT operations processes into a single console. This means IT admins can embed critical widgets and graphs from various processes, including network management, configuration management, switch port management, etc., into a single console.
With NOC views, the visibility into the entire network operations management process only gets more in-depth. IT admins not only gain the complete picture from one screen, but can also witness it being updated in real time.
With OpManager Plus' Workflow feature, you can perform basic fault management activities at an IT operations management level. Workflow's advanced capabilities enable you to execute fault management operations at both network performance management and configuration management levels from a single Workflow diagram.
OpManager Plus allows IT admins to configure notification profiles universally across all IT operations management processes. This unified IT operations management tool helps you to ensure that when multiple alert messages pop up, each is managed adequately.
A single notification profile can be used in multiple instances. When you receive multiple notifications for a particular problem from multiple tools, keeping track of which notification is for which device can be chaotic. However, with notification profiles, this can all be avoided.
Unlike most vendors, OpManager Plus, a unified network management tool follows a single license model for multiple IT operations management processes. This unified model eliminates the need to purchase individual licenses for your IT operations management processes and the hassle of keeping track of various licensing models for the various processes/tools.
OpManager Plus offers unified infrastructure monitoring by taking IT operations management beyond just detection and isolation of faults. From a single console, it allows alerts from various IT operations management processes to be converted into actionable items via integration with various external tools including ITSM tools, alarms management tools, communication tools, etc.
This unified ITOM-ITSM integration allows the alerts to be converted into actionable items and helps IT admins take action to resolve the identified faults much more proactively, saving physical and mental effort as well as money.
Try our 30 day free trial and learn how implementing a unified IT operations monitoring and management solution like OpManager Plus will increase your network monitoring efficiency. Or request a personalized demo custom catered to your requirements and understand how implementing a unified ITOM solution will benefit you.